Monitoring Blood Pressure

[macoduck]

Have any of you ever been able to successfully monitor your dog's blood pressure at home? If so, what kind of unit did you use?

I just checked Harold BP with the one-piece unit I use on myself. He was laying down so I put it on the upper portion of a front leg. First reading got an error so I moved it up to below his elbow. Next reading was 149/92.

I know just because I could get a reading that it may not be accurate for dogs. What is a normal BP range for greyhounds resting?

I will be asking my vet about this today.

[Guest KennelMom]

We only did it at home for a few days and our vet sent us home with one from their office. I can't imagine a human cuff would work well on a dog b/c the cuff itself is designed to work on a much larger, human arm. I don't recall the normal range, sorry

 

(we had to take her BP at home b/c the readings they were getting in their office were CRAZY high. Like, dangerously high. It was within normal limits at home, though....which I suspected it would be. Stella's a freak anywhere but at home.)

[Guest Fasave]

My vet recommends doing it at the base of the tail. A human cuff would be way too large. I'm thinking you would need a different attachment?

[Brooker914]

Human cuff is much too large, and false readings will occur if the cuff is either too large or too small. Best places to take a dog's blood pressure is the base of the tail, the front leg above the metacarpal pad, or hind leg below the hock (ankle). Their blood pressure should be close to ours 120/80. Here's a great article on how important it is to take blood pressure at home vs. in a vet clinic in Greyhounds:

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/09/110906144606.htm

Edited September 9, 2011 by Brooker914

[Guest BrianRke]

I think the BP should be around the same as a humans. 120/80

 

I just read this article yesterday about this very thing. Check it out. Greyhound Blood Pressure

[MP_the4pack]

I took Pearl's BP at home for 7 yrs.

 

But I did not have the fancy $3000 doppler to listen to her pulse.

 

First, BP is the same in dogs as it is in humans. But they really don't pay attention to the bottom number. Just the top. And they start to worry over 150. Well at least they did with Pearl because she was already diagnosed as hypertensive.

 

I bought a BP kit with an INFANT cuff. Not toddler. Infant. That will fit over the leg or tail. And you will get a more accurate reading from the tail. Now here was the tricky part. I had to watch the dial. When the needle started to bounce that was the BP. And I did verify it against the vet's reading, so I know I was at least in the ballpark.

 

While I was always uncertain, if I thought it was high, I would take her in and the vets would confirm it went up and would adjust her meds.

 

I always thought I would lose her to a stroke, heart attack or CHF because of her hypertention and heart disease. Cancer took her.

[macoduck]

Harold will be seeing the vet today.

We are waiting for his urinalysis to come in this afternoon. He has been leaking urine in his sleep so we'll see if it is infection vs incontinence.

Last night at 4am I heard Harold licking - a lot of licking. Turned the light on to see a dinner plate-sized puddle of blood on his bed where his head rested.

We cleaned him up and could not find the source of the blood. Nothing obvious on or in his nose/mouth/muzzle or any other part of his body. He acted normal. Some of the blood was thick.

My concern over blood pressure is that Proin incontinence would be contraindicated if he had high blood pressure.

I'll ask about BP cuffs. Thank you for the links.

[JJNg]

Any updates? Were you able to figure out where the blood came from?

 

I've seen a couple cases like that, where the owner finds a fairly large amount of unexplained blood from the front end. With no external wounds the only possibilities are GI tract or respiratory tract. Respiratory tract bleeding usually comes with other signs (sneezing, coughing, nosebleeds, etc), so I feel that GI is more likely. Unless you're inclined to do a lot of tests to get to the bottom of it, the easiest treatment you can try is meds for a stomach ulcer (sucralfate slurry, Pepcid or omeprazole, etc). That's how I treated the cases I've seen, and the owner stopped finding blood.

 

Is Harold on any medications, especially NSAIDs? One of the dogs I treated was being given aspirin by the owner.

[macoduck]

One more test is now being run on his urine. The first test showed protein in his urine again. Vet thinks he may have glomerulonephritis. I had another thread going on here about Harold leaking urine in his sleep. The second test is being run because we starting him Proin would be contraindicated by the glomerulonephritis.

Harold has not been coughing or vomiting. The only time the blood appears is after an overnight's sleep. Thursday night was the first incident. It happened again last night but only a few drops.

Given what I remember from a previous greyhound who had nose bleeds I think this is what Harold has. It just doesn't look gastrointestinal.

In just the past few days his water drinking and urination has increased. He continues to wet his bed at night. Sometimes the belly band he wears for 6 hours while I'm at work is wet, sometimes dry when I get home. He's eating fine and is happy.

I have a bad feeling about this. Been reading up on glomerulonephritis. There is a connection between it and blood pressure, and leaking in his sleep too.

No local medical supply shop stocks the infant-size BP monitor.

Once we get the urine protein creatinine ration test results we'll have a better idea of what's going on. I will order the BP monitor and adjust his diet as needed.

Jjng, interesting about your stomach ulcer thoughts. I'll ask the vet about that. Harold is not on any NSAIDS.

 

[Guest LindsaySF]

Chase has GN, PLN, and suspected high BP. We started an aspirin regimen a few months ago (to thin the blood, helps it get through the kidneys and decreases the pressure inside the kidneys, and also prevents throwing clots). We were going to add Enalapril also (BP med) but her last set of bloodwork was good and she's stable, so the vet said it's not even needed (yet?). Hopefully Harold has something similar going on and some meds will help!

 

When I read about the blood the first thing I thought was a nosebleed due to high BP.